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The Fishing for Leave campaign planned demonstration of fishing vessels in the Clyde tomorrow, following the highly successful protest in the Thames yesterday, has been officially cancelled as a mark of respect to the family of Labour MP and “remain’ campaigner Jo Cox who died today after being stabbed and shot by an attacker.

Fishing for Leave (FFL) organisers also believed that it was not in the interest of public safety to proceed with the protest in the Clyde following ‘viable threats’ from Remain campaigners who claimed they would ‘wreck havoc’ at the demonstration.

FFL founder member Aaron Brown said that coming immediately after the disgraceful attempts by Remain campaigners, with the assistance of Bob Geldof, to turn yesterday’s peaceful protest in the Thames into a riot, it was disappointing to see these efforts of disruption taken to a new level by threatening the safety of the general public at the proposed Clyde protest

A flotilla of fishing vessels as part of the Fishing for Leave campaign yesterday sailed up the Thames to tie up at Westminster, arriving just as Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) were taking place in the Houses of Parliament.

The approximately thirty fishing vessels, ranging from inshore boats to beam trawlers, large pelagic and deep sea vessels, met in the Thames Estuary early in the morning as the flotilla took on passengers and sailed up the Thames, where a standoff took place between the Leave Campaign and a boat from the Remain campaign, manned by Bob Geldof also carrying Boris Johnson’s sister Rachel Johnson campaigning for a Remain vote in next week’s referendum on continued UK membership of the European Union.

The flotilla has generated extensive publicity for the fishing industry’s position across national media and was also mentioned in the House of Commons during PMQs. Social media went berserk during the event and for a few hours afterwards, with a colourful variety of jokes and comments on the fishing industry’s position, ranging from critical to highly sympathetic.

According to a statement from the Fishing For Leave campaign that backed the flotilla sailing to the Houses of Parliament, ‘June 15th 2016 will go down in fishing industry history as the day that decent working class people stood up and tried to make a difference.’

‘Despite this wonderful display of unity in an industry often divided by the frustration of unworkable regulations being played down by the BBC as being of ‘little importance’, today marked not just a simple demonstration but a new dawn for fishermen everywhere,’ stated Fishing for Leave.

Commenting on the NFFO’s neutral platform, Cornish fisherman Dave Stevens has explained why he feels the British fishing industry is better off out of the European Union.

‘Right across our country many people have already made their minds up of how they will vote in the upcoming EU referendum,’ he said. ‘However, a large proportion of the population have yet to make up their minds, and it's very easy to understand why so many are undecided. The 'don't know' camp consists of many people from all walks of life who work in all areas of our economy. They have to listen to the many contradictory arguments put forward by either campaign leaving many people wondering- “where is an example of what being exclusively run by the European Union looks like?" But there is an industry that, for the past 30 years, has been entirely governed by the EU which decides its laws on exactly how it is to be managed and determines exactly what each country can do.’

But he makes the point that the waters around the UK are not British waters and British fisherman do not make up the majority of the fishermen as these are now EU waters.

‘Britain, with the largest and most productive waters, had to sacrifice the most to accommodate other European fishing fleets. The CFP is the overarching policy for all fishing activity from capture to subsequent sale, and this policy is directly responsible for the success or failure of a fishery,’ he said.

‘For all of my 26 years in fishing I have had to work under the rules set out within the CFP and I can only give you a glimpse into the world of trying to manage our family fishing business in the backdrop of the madness that is the CFP. With CFP relative stability shares applying within the EU, the UK only has access to 20% of the available fishing rights in these previously British waters, yet the French have just under 60% of the shares of the catches within these waters. In my time as a fisherman, I have seen the UK fleets shrink to match this very small share we receive of our 'own' fish.’

‘For many years fisherman have been blamed for the terrible, wasteful discarding but few realise that this problem was entirely caused by the lack of quota for British fishermen as well as the EU Commission's total lack of understanding of how mixed demersal fisheries operate. As vessel owners and fishermen, we have first-hand experience of other crazy EU rules.’

‘For our industry, the arguments to leave the EU are very clear cut – not merely from a financial point of view, but because of something which is deep rooted in British citizens – the ideas of fairness, common sense and democracy,’ Dave Stevens commented.

‘I even think that if the UK were to vote to leave this would be a good thing for the EU itself, as it would have to consider and question the reasons why we chose to do this. The United Kingdom, would in fact be leading the way forward, by example of democracy, for the EU. So we must take a step into something we are still very familiar with, the sunlit uplands of common sense, fairness and democracy, and vote to leave for all these reasons greater than ourselves.’

Posting on the NFFO’s platform for opinions on both sides of the UK’s present Brexit debate leading up to the referendum, lawyer Heather Hamilton has set out reasons why leaving the EU could be less than positive for UK fishermen.

She commented that if fisheries minister and enthusiastic Leave supporter George Eustice is to be believed, even in the event of a UK exit from the EU, quotas, the landing obligation and fishing limits set at sustainable levels will remain cornerstones of fisheries policy.

‘If you believe the Brexiteers, large parts of the fishing industry support the UK’s exit from the EU, seemingly on the basis that this would mean that we are no longer subject to the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). However, the arguments that they present are out of sync with the UK’s past actions and the current state of fisheries. In fact, to exit the EU would be to place the marine environment, fish stocks, and those fishers relying on them, in jeopardy.’

Heather Hamilton also said that keeping foreign fishing vessels out of UK waters would prove almost impossible to enforce, in addition to which there would remain the problem of historic fishing rights.

‘It would likely result in the UK having its access to waters and markets in these countries cut off. So, in reality, what will be necessary is negotiating a whole new set of fishing rights with these countries,’ she commented.

‘As a lawyer focused almost exclusively on the interpretation of fishing laws, I cannot understand how we would ever end up with a better deal. The process is likely to take years and to expect other Member States to welcome us to their waters and to their fish stocks with open arms is naive. After all, negotiations for previously shared assets rarely go smoothly in the aftermath of a break up,’ she suggested.

‘Many Brexit supporters have been pointing to the agreements made with Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. However, it is important to remember that these countries are a lot more distanced from their neighbours than the UK. Somewhat confusingly, many Brexit supporters' arguments also appear to be based on the idea of 'UK fish'. For almost all species around the UK's coasts, this is a false notion.’

‘Fish move, irrespective of political boundaries. This is particularly true for some of the UK's most lucrative fisheries, such as those for mackerel, herring and cod.’

Heather Hamilton makes the point that many of the industry's concerns about quota in fact stem from how the UK government itself distributes the quota available to it.

‘If quotas are retained, there is no evidence that the UK fishing industry will, all of a sudden, be in a more favourable position. In fact there is potential for the opposite,’ she said.

Source: NFFO

Yet again more scaremongering and stating opinion as fact, NOTHING in that lot would ever convince me to vote to stay, I am OUT and will never accept the EU, Davie

Iceland's fishing minister has said the country would "never join the European Union" because the country is thriving outside.

The country applied to join the EU in 2009, but dropped the application last year.

A key factor, said Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, was the desire to retain control over fishing grounds.

The nation now has one of the most modern and productive fishing industries in the world.

However, while bigger companies on the island are flourishing, the small-scale fleet is shrinking. Some fear traditional fishing methods may die out altogether.

In an office overlooking the factory floor of Visir Fisheries in Grindavik in south-western Iceland, computer-generated images of cod fillets glide across a computer screen.

This is one of the most advanced fish processing factories in the world. The workers tend to a machine that sizes up each fish and slices it with a laser-accurate water jet. It can produce one perfectly shaped fillet each second.

Manager Johann Helgason points at one of the pale shapes passing by on his screen. "That's a pin bone." The robot will make sure it goes back for the tiny offender - just a few millimetres long - to be removed.

"The standardisation of the portions is more or less perfect," Mr Helgason says. "It maximises the value of each single piece that goes through."

Many of these flawless fillets will end up being eaten in the UK. Iceland's biggest market is Europe and inside the EU the largest market is Britain.

All parts of the fish are used. "Our goal is to increase the value of those by-products," says Mr Helgason. "We are using biotechnology to try to find materials in the fish skin or the eye, or the head - like enzymes or collagen. We want to go more into pharmaceutical or food supplements."

This £30m factory is at the cutting-edge of fish processing. Would they be in this position if Iceland were within the EU? Mr Helgason is sceptical.

"We have full control of the industry here in Iceland. We decide the catch and the rules. This makes us very quick to react if something needs to change, which is why we are very competitive."

Iceland forms part of the European Economic Area along with Norway and Lichtenstein. They get market access for fewer obligations: Iceland has to take in 15-20% of EU rules into its own legal framework.

Mr Helgason does not feel that Visir would gain much from being in Europe. "We are completely independent. It's up to us who we want to deal with and what kind of relationship we have with each country. This gives us an advantage."

The fishing industry is based on a quota system.

To keep fish stocks sustainable and protect the marine ecosystem, scientists from the Icelandic Marine Research Institute continually monitor Icelandic waters and provide this data to the government.

This guidance is followed to help set limits on the amount of fish that can be caught.

As under the Common Fisheries Policy, this quota can be bought and sold.
'Life outside the EU'

The Fisheries Ministry is the most powerful department in the Icelandic government. Dressed in an impeccable suit Minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson sits at a polished circular table in his office overlooking Reykjavik harbour.

He is blunt.

"I would never join the European Union," he says. "There is a life outside it, as we have proven. We have one of the biggest and one of the strongest fisheries in the world that is sustainable without any subsidies from the state.

"We don't have to share this decision-making with anyone else. It would be difficult for Icelanders to control their economic and fisheries sector having the obligation to discuss it with 27 or 28 other countries."

The 10 biggest families in Iceland control 50-60% of the quota.

Gunnar Tomasson is director of another fishing giant: Thorfish. He stands on the harbour wall watching 25,000 tonnes of fish being unloaded from one of his ships after a five day-trip.

"Today the fishing stocks are sustainable and we are controlling them very well. But inside the European Union, it is totally the other way around. They are not controlling it; they are overfishing their stocks and they are even paying subsidies to their industry. We do not want to go into the European Union."
Smaller boats are struggling

However, the fact that Iceland is in charge of its own fish stocks does not mean that all fishermen are happy with the system.

There is criticism of the centralisation of power: the fact that a large company can own a factory, own a vessel and also own the quota.

One industry insider who did not want to be named likens this to a "mafia".

Since 1984, the number of people working in the industry has gone down by half. Smaller boats are struggling - just as they are in the UK.

In Sandgerdi, Halldor Armannsson and his 80-year-old father heave a tub of frozen mackerel and squid from an ancient freezer hut across a cracked patio and into a rundown shed. The bait is hacked up and pressed down on hooks attached to long lines that will run behind their boat.

This family has been fishing these Arctic waters in this way for 400 years. Currently, their business supports five families.

Mr Armannsson could be better protected under European rules. Reforms to the Common Fisheries policy mean these businesses - with their sustainable fishing methods - should be prioritised when quota is handed out.

Mr Armannsson says: "The small fishermen are dying out. Three years ago, we had about 600 boats line- and hook-fishing. Now, we have just 200. The bigger boats buy the quota and once it is lost they can't get it back. The smaller fleet just can't compete."

He says that people have to move to where the large fish factories are and so fishing in the smaller Icelandic villages is dying out.

"The control of the fisheries is what I am afraid of. I don't see how the government is putting younger people into this industry."

However, the globalisation of the Icelandic fishing industry is picking up speed. The Asian market is growing. A delegation from China arrives to look around the Visir factory and moves on to inspect the scientific research vessel moored in Reykjavik harbour.

Hjortur Gislason who has reported on the fishing industry for decades says: "Of course, the quota system means that fishing rights accumulate into fewer hands, but when you want to run an industry that contributes to your economy then that's the way you do it. The fishing fleet is paying huge amounts of money to the state for fishing rights and this is contributing to the people in Iceland.

"There will never be peace in fisheries management because there is not enough for everybody."

Today Britain goes to the polls to decide on its European Union membership in the long-awaited referendum. The results should be in tomorrow morning with the UK deciding on whether to stay European or go it alone.

The banks are on high alert for a run on the pound, the media is confused and the pollsters are being cautious as Britain has been split by the referendum. This is the first UK referendum in 41 years – the last was on EU membership back in 1975, and was supposed to be the last one ever to be held.

The fishing industry has been firmly behind the Leave movement. Fisheries Minister George Eustice threw in his lot with the Brexit faction and has been an energetic campaigner for leaving the EU, while DEFRA’s position is solidly in favour of remaining.

Whatever the outcome, the result is going to be dramatic for UK politics as the Leave-Remain divide has split the ruling Conservative party. There are prominent figures on each side whose political lives may be ended once the votes have been counted.

There have been several flotillas of fishing vessels campaigning to leave the EU – including the Thames flotilla last week that included the spectacle of a loudhailer argument between Bob Geldof, now cast in the role of the fishing industry’s latest hate figure, and UKIP leader Nigel Farage.

There have been flotillas on the Humber and in Newlyn, while a planned Clyde flotilla demonstration was cancelled in the wake of the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.

It has been a tough few months as campaigning has been ratcheted up. It hasn’t been a clean campaign on either side, with both Leave and Remain camps unashamedly playing the fear card and no shortage of misinformation and spin on both sides.

We’ll find out tomorrow whether Britain remains part of Europe, or decides to step into largely unknown territory that entails doom and disaster (according to the Remain side) or wealth and prosperity (according to the Leave side).